Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns said Monday, for the first time, that parting ways with the team’s all-time home run leader after last season may not have worked out as planned.
Pete Alonso hit 43 home runs with an .884 OPS this season for the Orioles, while the Mets spent the year searching for answers at first base.
During his season-ending press conference, Stearns was asked whether he would have done anything differently with Alonso knowing how the season played out.
“I think that’s a very fair question,” Stearns said. “The truth is, in this job I don’t get mulligans. I also recognize Pete had a tremendous year and the totality of our production at first base wasn’t good enough, and so now it’s my job to ensure that we have got better success across our roster, but for the entire season, better production at first base as well.”
Alonso signed a five-year, $155 million contract with the Orioles last offseason after the Mets declined to offer him a long-term deal.
The Mets brought in Jorge Polanco on a two-year, $40 million contract to serve as Alonso’s primary replacement, but Polanco appeared in just 37 games due to physical limitations and had little impact. Mark Vientos also struggled at first base before Jared Young stepped in later in the season and provided some stability at the position.
“We try to learn from everything, and I think the entire offseason last year was a learning experience for me,” Stearns said a day after the Mets finished the season with 74 wins. “I give Pete an enormous amount of credit. He went out and had a really good year. Throughout the entirety of our season our first base production wasn’t good enough, and now it’s my job to put a group together next year that plays better.”
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